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Avery, Joseph (1878-1885)

Avery, Joseph & Co.

London; window blind makers (fl.1878-85)

Possibly related to Mr Avery of Avery & Dangar, cabinet makers & upholsterers, of 11 Great Portland Street (1839). /entry/avery-dangar-1839

Joseph Avery & Co. was first recorded advertising in The Furniture Gazette, 5 January 1878, with the addresses of 81 Great Portland Street & 3 Spencer Place, Victoria Street. The firm’s commissions included blinds for the new wing added by the Earl of Denbigh to Newnham Paddox, Lutterworth [The Furniture Gazette, 19 July 1879]; its patent 'Empire Cloth Blinds in pale apple green in a new corridor at Buckingham Palace [The Furniture Gazette, 3 April 1880]; and spring roller blinds for all the glass cases in the Indian Museum, Calcutta [The Furniture Gazette, 11 February 1882].

Also exhibited widely; Building Exhibitions, Agricultural Hall, London in 1880, 1881 & 1882 and the 3rd Annual Furniture Exhibition 1883, Agricultural Hall. Illustrations of their blinds as exhibited at the latter were featured in The Furniture Gazette, 28 April 1883. Throughout this period the firm advertised in The Furniture Gazette publications. 

The Furniture Gazette, 18 November 1882, reported that their factory had been moved from Spencer Place, Westminster to larger, more convenient premises at 4 Stanhope Street, near Euston Road, which had been previously occupied by Bryceson Bros. & Ellis, organ manufacturers. 

The shop at 81 Great Portland Street continued to operate. In 1882 Mr J. Avery accompanied C. J. Grove, a carpet warehouseman of Great Portland Street, to Marlborough Street Police Station to highlight the methods used to defraud tradesmen. In 1883 the partnership was dissolved with all debts being discharged by T. Chamberlain [The Furniture Gazette, 18 August 1883 & 25 August 1883] although it appears that Avery continued in business as he was recorded in the Lord Chamberlain’s accounts in 1885.

Source: Joy, ‘The Royal Victorian Furniture-Makers, 1837-87’, The Burlington Magazine (November 1969).